Bill O'Reilly still doesn't get it

Published: 02/14/2004 at 1:00 AM

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In the past several days, the media have descended on Massachusetts like a flock of vultures on a wounded prey. The scenes inside and outside the Statehouse are described by many as “surreal.” With the thousands of people and hundreds of cameras on Beacon Hill, the legislators say they have never seen or experienced anything like this before.

The hoopla, of course, is about “gay” marriage.

One of the greatest battles for America’s future right now is being waged in Massachusetts – an outcome that will affect and possibly change our entire nation forever. Simply put, this battle is about one thing: do we or don’t we, as a nation, embrace and accept the practice of homosexuality in America?

To observe the national media’s biased reporting on this issue is disheartening, to say the least.

My wife, Irene, and I both led teams at pro-marriage rallies this past weekend in Hartford, Conn., and Boston, Mass. We were there. Yet the media’s reporting was undoubtedly biased beyond belief. You would think they were at a different rally than we were. With upwards of 6,000 people rallying in support of marriage between a man and a woman in Connecticut and literally only a handful of homosexual protesters, the media gave all of the air time to the “gay” activists and their rally! The same angle was sadly taken in Massachusetts.

Watching the cable news programs and their reporting on America’s homosexual dilemma isn’t any better. It just shows how biased and one-sided the media really are.

Bill O’Reilly, host of “The O’Reilly Factor” on the Fox News Channel, on Feb. 11 featured Kevin Jennings, the executive director of GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network. Kevin discussed GLSEN’s pro-homosexual curriculum being marketed to public schools all across America under the guise of “tolerance.”

GLSEN’s material instructs teachers how to teach America’s children that “gay is OK.” This material falsely equates homosexuality with heterosexuality – teaching we need to accept and embrace everyone for who they “really” are. Bill O’Reilly tragically bit the bait and once again displayed his personal bias, stating he believes all Americans should “pursue happiness.”

But what does Bill O’Reilly’s think “pursuing happiness” includes?

O’Reilly, watched heavily by conservatives and Christians alike, shocked America in September 2002 when he publicly announced his support of homosexual special rights in the nation’s largest homosexual publication, the Advocate. His interview, one he probably wishes would just go away, caused a lot of controversy and dissent among his viewers.

To many, O’Reilly has sold out.

What Bill needs to realize is that he and others in the media are sending a very bad message to America and our children. Does O’Reilly actually think two men engaging in anal intercourse is something America needs to embrace, accepting this behavior in the homosexuals’ “pursuit of happiness”?

Does Mr. O’Reilly actually believe a sexual, sadistic act by two lesbians or “gay” men known as “fisting” should be taught to America’s teens? This is exactly what was taught during a workshop his guest’s organization GLSEN co-sponsored and participated in.

GLSEN also provides a suggested reading list of books to America’s youth – many of them containing blatant, pornographic stories of young boys who engage in oral sex and anal intercourse with older boys, as well as lesbian sex between young girls. Most parents are in the dark on the explicit, graphic homosexual content their children are reading. Linda Harvey, executive director of Mission: America has documented several of these and other troubling resources in great detail.

GLSEN is also responsible for encouraging GSA’s or gay-straight alliances – “gay” clubs – nearly 2,000 of them – in schools across America. These clubs meet and encourage the students in their homosexual lifestyles – some even encouraging homosexual experimentation. I personally stopped one of these GSA’s in Connecticut two years ago from taking their teenage club members on a “field trip” to Provincetown, Mass. – one of the largest homosexual subcultures in the Northeast.

Is this the message that Bill O’Reilly wants to send to America? Are these books he wants America’s children to read? Is this what Bill O’Reilly wants to have his child taught? Are these the kind of clubs he wants America’s youth to join? Does Bill O’Reilly look forward to the day when his child will walk down the aisle to be married till “death do us part” with his child’s homosexual lover?

Bill O’Reilly, who fervently advocates for children by fighting the demeaning messages of Ludicrous, Janet Jackson, Snoop Doggy Dog, Little Kim and others, is being hypocritical and doing a great disservice to America by using his celebrity to endorse the homosexual lifestyle. Homosexuality is not only harmful to children and to society, but has also proven deadly for many.

Father Harvey, a Catholic priest from New York who heads Courage, a Catholic ministry to those who want to overcome their unwanted same-sex attractions, says people such as O’Reilly are in grave error and have placed themselves “above the church.”

The Vatican itself issued a statement months ago addressing politicians and public figures stating no professing Catholic could nor should support the homosexual lifestyle, same-sex unions or “gay” adoption. Yet even with stern warnings from Rome itself – O’Reilly’s heart remains hardened.

Bill O’Reilly just doesn’t seem to get it. He’s right on so many issues, but on homosexuality he’s dead wrong. As I’ve said time and time again, people such as Bill O’Reilly have fallen for the “Gay Spin Zone.” Their reasoning is based on emotion, not on logic. It’s based on “tolerance,” not truth. It’s based on believing a misinformation campaign being waged by “gay” activists – and the media are the major conduit.

Tragically, the message Bill O’Reilly is sending to America – is the wrong one.

Bill O’Reilly has had many opportunities to hear the truth about the homosexual lifestyle from many of his guests, including when I appeared on his show back in September of 2002. Yet he didn’t want to listen. He had other motives in mind. Yet as a former homosexual, I encourage Bill O’Reilly to listen and to examine the truth – to put aside his presuppositions and not to go by his emotions. Lives are at stake here – including America’s children.

Those such as myself who take a public, principled stand against the embracing and promotion of homosexuality in America do so for a reason. We know the truths and facts about the homosexual lifestyle. I’ve been there personally and experienced it firsthand.

Our message is not one of hate, but hope. It is not one of discrimination, but of deliverance. A message that I perceived years ago as one of bigotry brought me a new beginning. This same wonderful hope awaits every homosexual man and woman – a chance to become the real men and women they were created to be.

As the issue of homosexuality continues to be at the forefront in America, the media – including Bill O’Reilly – have to be held to higher standards and called to report accurately, fairly and without bias.

Fox News claims to be fair and balanced. Then let America hear the truth, Mr.O’Reilly, about homosexuality. Respectfully, do as you say – “We report, you decide.”

Stephen Bennett is a Christian recording artist and commentator who is featured nationally on radio, television and print. He is one of the nation’s key speakers on “coming out” of homosexuality. For further information visit Stephen Bennett’s website.